


A Chance Meeting

by Kukolnyy (MelinyaValerian)



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, mentions of minor character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 03:51:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9105481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelinyaValerian/pseuds/Kukolnyy
Summary: Some weeks after her return from Edolas, Lisanna finds herself visiting the graveyard quite often. This time, she isn't alone; there is someone at her grave she hasn't expected; a long-limbed, tongue-wiggling someone who stares at her grave.Two-Shot, not strictly a shipping fic.





	1. The Other Her

**Author's Note:**

> I adore Bickslow and Lisanna as a crack ship. I usually keep away from writing shipping fics, but I think I might make an exception for these two. This one isn't strictly romantic, it's actually a little dark at times. It's my version of how Lisanna and Bickslow got a little closer post-Edolas, and might lead to more clear shipping fics later on. For now, however, it's a bit ambiguous, and only about laying down a foundation.

She has been coming to the graveyard an awful lot these past few weeks. Together with her siblings, at first. But time moves on and everything turns back to normal, at least for them, and during the last days, she comes alone more and more often. To escape the hustle and bustle of Fairy Tail, to be alone for a moment, to think. To be able to be sad and confused, without making everyone, most of all her siblings, sad, as well. Mirajane and Elfman have experienced enough pain because of her, enough for a lifetime; they don't need to worry even more because their sister still comes here.

She doesn't like graveyards, usually. They are eerily quiet, and seem dark on even the sunniest day. Also, she is always strangely aware that she moves through rows and rows of dead bodies six feet under the ground, and it makes her sad to know these people lost their lives. To know that Mirajane and Elfman must have come here because of her so often makes the tight feeling in her chest even more constricting.

It's raining today, too; the first time since her return. It adds to her subdued mood as she opens the gate, an umbrella in one hand, a white lily in the other. Sometimes she asks herself why she still comes here so often, a slight concern in the back of her mind that it's because she can't let it go, can't move on. But another part of her knows that she doesn't want to let it go. She needs to remember the other her, the girl who is her and yet isn't, who lies in the grave with her name on it, her birthday, her death day. She needs to remember the other Mirajane, the other Elfman, who lost their sister once and then lost her again, and even if she has never been their real sister, she has lost them, too. She knows she can't go on like this forever, visit the graveyard every day and stare down at her name engraved into a grey stone. She knows that one day or another, she needs to draw a line and stop coming and start moving forward without looking back, but right now, it's hard to do.

In Edolas, it has taken her more than a few weeks to adjust, more than a few months to feel at home, to find familiarities in the different versions of her friends and see past the differences. Coming back has toppled over everything again, and though she feels at home, more so than at any point during the last two years, it's sometimes too overwhelming.

She looks at the lily in her hands as she moves down the rows of graves slowly. Maybe she'll put down the flower, say a prayer for the other her who won't ever return home and then turn around and try to make a cut. Go back to the guild and ask Mirajane for a hot chocolate and try to focus on the feeling of being at home.

Suddenly, a light flashes. It startles her, but it's gone in an instant. It hasn't been lightning, it has had a greenish glint to it, somehow too unnatural and she can't hear the thunder. She grips her umbrella harder, suddenly, she can't help the feeling of being watched. Something tells her that the greenish light has come from somewhere on the graveyard, some row in the back. She is probably not alone and for a second, she thinks of leaving. Then, she decides against it; she needs to see the grave once more and put down the lily, and she doesn't want to be a scared little girl who runs away from ghost lights. Maybe her imagination has just been tricking her.

Though it's probably better if she doesn't stay for long.

Her heart beats a little too fast now and the graveyard appears downright creepy in the rain. Dark, grey and gloomy, with dead bodies below her feet. Even the flowers covering the stones, red and yellow and white, look dead in the rain. She increases her pace a little, just a little; she doesn't want to appear frightened, but she doesn't want to stay here for long either. The hot chocolate and Mirajane come to her mind.

She reaches the row with her grave, a little to the back, a little secluded – and nearly drops her umbrella. There is someone down the row, the long-limbed figure of a tall man in dark clothes, still like a stone. **In front of her grave.** 'Not sturdy enough for Elfman, too tall for Natsu', it moves through her mind as she tries to identify the stranger, rooted on the spot where she has entered the row. The stranger notices her and turns his head. Simultaneously, she sees the five little objects floating around him and the tattoo on his face. The realisation that she knows the man softens the blow a bit, but doesn't make the shock disappear entirely. His dark, reddish eyes are unnaturally vivid against the grey and cut through the distance between them. A huge grin moves over his face when he sees her, a huge tongue-wiggling grin that isn't at all inviting. Still, knowing that it's only him makes her remember to move, and she continues further down the row towards her grave. Whatever he's wanted here, it's probably an accident that he's ended up in front of her grave. She remembers the greenish light and suddenly it makes sense to her.

It's all just a chance meeting, and they're guild mates after all. Mirajane has filled her in, of course, about what happened during the Harvest Festival, about what happened to Laxus, and about what the Raijinshuu did.

Bickslow has always been a little disconcerting to her, but she refuses to be afraid of a guild mate and simply stops next to him.

“Come here to see your grave, hm?”, he says, a little amusement in a voice that is eerily familiar and rougher than she remembers. He and Freed and Evergreen have been there for her 'Welcome Home' – party, but since then, she has hardly seen them. Away on jobs, probably; the Raijinshuu have always kept busy. She hardly remembers Bickslow from before Edolas; she only remembers someone else, something she tries to push away because it makes her sad.

“It helps making sense of all this”, she replies, following suit and foregoing a greeting, pretending it isn't strange to run into each other here, of all places. She doesn't need to explain more, all in Fairy Tail know and it's a blessing that she doesn't have to speak about it too often.

“It's also pretty morbid, come to think of it”, he gives back, and she can practically hear him grin. She turns to him, brow raised a little. He grins indeed, broadly even, eyes sparkling at her as if her decision to see the grave of the other her is some kind of amusing. She notices that his visor is in one of his hands; she has hardly ever seen him without. Not this him, at least.

“And you?”, she asks, though she thinks she knows the answer.

He sighs a little. “Wandering soul in one of the back rows”, he says and she nods. It's as she's thought. He's been the source of the greenish light. “I took care of it before it started a rampage on the whole area.”

Though it's all been clear to her from the second she has realised the stranger on the graveyard is, in fact, Bickslow, it still feels a bit weird that only now the full extent of his powers come back to her mind. She finds herself wondering if he sees the souls of all the departed on the graveyard, and for a moment, the thought alone freaks her out. To be able to see all that death, doesn't it drive a person crazy? Then again, Bickslow has never come across as particularly sane with his dolls, his tongue and his visor, though she has hardly known this version of him.

Her thoughts drift back to Edolas, to the other Bickslow, and she begins to think she's known that version better; but it hurts and so she stops.

She focusses on her grave, thinking Bickslow will just leave now that his job has been done. Somewhere in Edolas, a Mirajane and an Elfman mourn the death of her sister. Maybe it's another reason why she still comes here, because she feels a little closer to that Mirjane and that Elfman if she mourns their Lisanna, too. For as long as she would live, they would be her siblings, too, and she wants to feel close to them. Maybe that is not a bad thing. For a few minutes, she allows her thoughts to drift away, think back of Edolas, and forgets everything around her.

When she puts down the lily, though, she notices that Bickslow is still there, now two steps behind her, but still without his visor and focussed on her grave just like she has been. His eyes seem to glow with the same green light she's seen before, and when they wander over to her, she feels hot and cold and a little afraid, but it only lasts for a second before he blinks and the glow vanishes. He looks solemn but then finds her eyes once more and breaks into another grin.

“You're still here”, she says.

“Surprised?” The grin changes into a mischievous smirk.

She decides that she's not going to answer the teasing in his voice. “Yes”, she says earnestly. “I thought your job here was done.”

“Don't know if you noticed, babe, but it's a public graveyard”, he replies with a shrug that makes her a little mad because it's so casual. “There's nothing freaky about me staying a little longer.”

She isn't sure about it, she can't think of any reason why it **wouldn't** be freaky to willingly spend time on a graveyard if it's not because of a lost one; and she thinks she can rule that case out since Bickslow seems more focussed on her now than on any grave. “But what would you...?”

“What a normal person does on a graveyard”, he cuts in incredulously. “I pay respect to the dead.”

It takes her by surprise that his voice is free of hidden amusement for the first time since she's met him here. He's serious about this, and there is no grin on his face any more. Suddenly, it's easier to see the other him in his features, the Bickslow without the tattoo on his face, though they are so different.

Then, it sinks in that he means he's been paying his respect to **her** , to Lisanna, because he's at her grave.

“I'm not dead”, she replies and knows it sounds clumsy, but she feels a little clumsy right now, unsure what to feel or to say and caught between surprise and memories of another Bickslow back in Edolas.

“I know”, he says, solemnly; his voice, though rougher than his counterparts', so familiar right now that she feels a little sting in her heart.

“You had two years”, she says irritatedly, just to say something; but she still feels the effect of the sting; that disconcerting heaviness around her heart.

He laughs out all out of sudden, a sharp, booming sound that makes it so clear that he isn't at all like the other him, which is both; relieving and disappointing. “You think I've been ignoring that grave the last two years just to come here now that you're back? I'm not that much of an asshole, babe; so you're wrong there.”

She waits for an explanation, but nothing comes. The easiness with which he speaks and his steady grin slowly become insufferable to her. How can he be thoughtful and serious in one sentence and casual and teasing in another? Because he **is** teasing her, she hears it from his voice. It's as if he wants to play a game with her, make her ask questions about his business at her grave.

She stares at him, a brow raised, making a non-verbal statement about her willingness to play that game. He stares back, the grin growing larger and larger, until he laughs out once more and sticks his tongue out. “Alright, alright. Spare me that pout of yours, oh mighty Lisanna, and I shall enlighten you.”

She blushes, she hasn't noticed the pout and forces her face back into an irritated expression. He just laughs at her. Then, he takes a long, deep breath and sighs a bit. “I've never said goodbye to **her** , you know”, he says then, and nods towards the grave. “To you, yeah. To her, no. Gotta set that straight.”

“Because you thought she was me.” The words come out of Lisanna's mouth like automatic, and she understands him, though it's an odd feeling somewhere between being thankful and confused.

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

She looks away from him, casts her eyes on the ground. Maybe she is just confused because she doesn't know Bickslow that well; from where she stands, it looks out of character that he's even thought of coming here, not to speak of coming here for someone he doesn't even know. She admires him a little for it, she has to admit. Apart from Mirajane and Elfman, she doesn't know if anyone else has come here to say goodbye to the other Lisanna specifically. She has the feeling some of the guild have, but she doesn't know exactly who. But of all the people she would have expected, Bickslow certainly hasn't been one of them.

He still stands some feet away and now it's him who raises his brows at her, arms crossed on his chest. She realises that she has been staring at the ground for way too long. “That's... it's very thoughtful of you”, she finally says, most of her irritation at his inappropriate grins gone, though not all of her convoluted feelings.

“You sound surprised”, he answers, another grin manifesting. She shakes her head a little at how quickly he's back to being amused instead of serious, but can't be irritated this time. “But don't worry; so am I.”

“That you're being thoughtful?”

“Am I striking you as the thoughtful and intelligent type?”

He says it so casual and shrugs his shoulders, which looks a bit goofy with his long limbs. His dolls, having been quiet for the entirety of their talk, suddenly swirl around his head excitedly, and cry “NO! NO! NO!”

Before she can help it, she breaks into quiet giggling at the sight of a lanky man drenched in the rain who has a tattoo on his forehead and another on his tongue and has five dolls circling around his head who basically insult him. And not half a second later, he laughs, too, still inappropriately loud and shrill, but she thinks it sounds more genuine now.

Maybe she shouldn't be in such a good mood, maybe it's inappropriate to laugh at all on a graveyard. But right now, she finds it hard not too, and when her giggles finally die down a little, she finds the world a little less grey, and the rain a little less strong. And maybe, she is a little more at peace now. And realises that no matter how often she has come here, she has never said goodbye. She has only come to pray, to think, to mourn, to be sad.

Maybe he's right, and she needs to remedy that. Her giggles die down fully, but she doesn't feel as gloomy anymore. She gives Bickslow a smile before she turns around to the grave once more.  
Five dolls start circling around her head now, and their motionless faces somehow manage to look curious. Somehow, she understands what he wants now.

“I need to say goodbye, too”, she says, head turned over her shoulder and looking at her company. She sighs a little, but decides it is better if she tells him to leave. She wants a moment alone with the other Lisanna; maybe she should have told him so right away. “And I would like to do so in private. Would you mind leaving me alone, Bickslow?”

His face changes into a goofy looking expression of confusion. “Oh... sure?”, he says, and sounds as if the wish for privacy is something that has never occurred to him. “Sure!Sure!”, his dolls repeat, stop circling around her and return to him. She chuckles once more at the sight, glad that he's been there, even if he would leave now.

He quickly collects himself, and pulls a hood over his head and attaches the visor in front of his face with some movements of his hands. “See you around, I guess!” He lifts a hand and grins once more, before he jumps onto his dolls that have formed something like a raft for him to fly on.

“Yeah, see you”, she says, waves him goodbye. He's gone in the blink of an eye, and she turns her attention to the grave once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I consider this to be mildly AUish, since there are several things in it which don't strictly fit with canon which I intentionally ignored (the location of the graveyard, e.g., or Edolas Lisanna actually leaving behind a body to be buried...) It's still very close to the canon situation, though, I think.


	2. The Other Him

On her way back to the guild she feels easier; something she now finds she's been waiting for all those days she came to the graveyard. She's not sure if it's all it takes for her to move on completely, but it sure feels like a start to have said goodbye.

It's still raining and slowly, she's been out on the streets long enough for the cold beginning to creep through her clothes and make her shiver. She can't think of a place she would rather be right now than the guild hall and halfway down the streets of Magnolia, accelerates her pace towards her home.

When she arrives, it's all she's been hoping for. Warm, and bright, and lively; Natsu and Gray are fighting over something, Lucy and Juvia on a near table are talking; Lucy looking a little annoyed and Juvia stealing glances at Gray's naked torso. Levy is at the black board reviewing requests with Jet and Droy, Gajeel and Pantherlily in his big form are sparring close by. On the second floor, she sees Erza talking to the master. Elfman is nowhere to be seen, but he's wanted to leave in the morning and has probably selected a job. Mirajane is behind the bar, serving drinks to Cana and chatting with Macao and Wakaba, while Romeo and Wendy are playing cards with Happy and Charle. She moves through the hall with a big smile on her face, and decides that once she's warmed up a bit, she's going to help Mirajane with the bar.

When she hops onto a stool next to Macao, however, her plans are quickly upset. Bickslow is there, too, at one of the tables to the side, not visible from the entrance. He's wearing only a black, short-sleeved shirt with an attached hood, his visor and a pair of blue shorts, while his dolls are flying over the table carrying his wet attire. They move up and down as if trying to dry the clothes, and it looks a little hilarious.

“He's been out there for hours without an umbrella”, Mirajane says to her, eyes cast in the same direction as hers. “I put him close to the kitchen, it's warmer there.”

“He could go home and change”, Lisanna replies. Mirajane only shrugs in reply, apparently clueless as to why he prefers to sit in the guild hall like a wet dog.

In the blink of an eye, Lisanna has a different plan. She asks Mirajane for two mugs of hot chocolate, and takes them over to where Bickslow sits.

“Here, to keep you warm”, she says and puts one mug in front of him. Then she sits down on the opposite side of the table.

“Booze?”, he replies with a grin. She has the feeling that his eyes glint a little under his visor. He takes a sip from the mug, and the grin is gone and replaced by a hilariously un-frightening frown. “Nah... what's this?!”

“What's this? What's this?”, the dolls chant from above them.

“Hot chocolate”, she replies dryly, takes a sip from her own mug and smiles brightly. “Warm, and sweet. Liquid good mood served in a mug.”

“And non-alcoholic”, he groans. “Couldn't you've at least gotten me something else if you're not old enough to drink booze, babe?”

For a second, she wants to be insulted; but then again, she slowly becomes used to his quips and teasing. “I'd be careful if I were you, you're biting the hand that feeds here”, she says good-naturedly.

“You'd know if I'd be biting anything, babe”, he gives back, and as if to underline his words, licks his teeth with his tongue. It's more than a bit suggestive, and more than a bit off-putting.

She arrives at the conclusion that Earthland's Bickslow is a thoroughly weird person and sighs in defeat. “I've actually been meaning to thank you, but the longer I think about this, the more I don't really want to”, she says, and accompanies her words by a shrug and an innocent face.

It works. “Thank me? For what?”, he asks, the corners of his big mouth now hanging down lopsidedly, making him look confused. All traces of teasing or double meanings are gone from his voice.

A satisfied grin ghosts over her face as he takes a big gulp from his mug. She leans over the table casually, resting her elbows on the wooden surface and propping up her chin on her interlaced hands, smirking. He looks as if he's raising his brows in anticipation behind his visor. She would like to play a little game with him, too; string him along a little, but she's too serious about the issue. Maybe another time. “For keeping me a little company on the graveyard, intentional or not.”

“Oh”, is everything he says initially, and as far as she can read a facial expression from just his mouth, he looks genuinely surprised. “No... no problem, I guess.”

“Guess! Guess!”

She has to chuckle a little at his expression. He begins to remind her of Natsu; a little crazy but beyond everything else, a genuine person. It's something familiar and makes her easier around him.

He shakes his head as if to collect himself, and leans a little over the table now, too; grinning. “Well, I couldn't leave a pretty woman alone and sad in the rain, could I?”, he says, the suggestive undertone of teasing back in his voice.

She's heard that sentence before, and suddenly feels the urge to look away from him. There's the hood and the visor and his black nails that distract from it, but also his voice and his lips that are so familiar, and when, a second ago, she's been thinking of Natsu, she's thinking of the other Bickslow now.

_It was two days after her appearance in Edolas' Fairy Tail, in a time where she was conflicted about trying to leave or staying, and it rained that day, too. She sat outside the guild on a bench, thinking about that chaos and confusion and about how different everyone was behaving, not noticing that her clothes had already become soaked with rain and that she actually felt cold. Then, all out of sudden, the rain around her stopped and she felt a presence next to her. It took her longer than with others to realise that the man who held out an umbrella to her and smiled was the Edolas version of Bickslow; he looked different without a visor, without a tattoo; his hair combed into a neat and short ponytail, clad in a knitted sweater vest and a scarf. “A pretty woman like you shouldn't be alone and sad in the rain, don't you think?”, he said in a friendly voice, a kind smile on his face._

_The day after that, he brought her a flower from his own cultivation to lift her spirits._

_A week later, she met him on one of the large fields that were around the current location of the guild hall and they talked about living beings, he about his plants and she about animals. They found themselves doing it again during the following days._

_Another two weeks later, they lost him and Evergreen in a raid lead by Erza Knightwalker._

They were the first who died during her time in Edolas, but not the last.

“Lisanna?!”, he says, she hears his voice as if he is speaking through a wall. “Oi, Lisanna!”

The doll with the smile painted on appears in her vision and snaps her out of her memories. “Come on, don't cry or Mira is gonna skin me alive!”

She blushes as she realises that there is a tear streaming down her face and quickly wipes it away. “I... I'm sorry. I was just...”

“Out of it”, he continues. “One second, everything is fine and then...?” A greenish light appears behind the visor.

She takes a deep breath. “I was just thinking of Edolas. I'm sorry, it wasn't you.”

He tilts his head a little, lips pressed together and looking unconvinced. Then, he leans over, stares into her already empty mug and gets up. “Be right back, so don't start crying again”, he mutters.

Her heart feels heavy still, but she watches him nonetheless. He walks over to the bar, says something to Mirajane. Her sister glances over, looks worried a bit, but smiles finally.

A minute later he comes back, two new mugs of chocolate in his hands. “Liquid good mood you said? Here you go.”

The chocolate smells temptingly, and she doesn't even try to put up resistance and drinks. It's sweeter than usual, but not unpleasantly so. “Hmmm! Oh, that's... really nice, what's in there?”

“Cherry syrup”, he says and empties his first mug in one big gulp before turning to the second. “Freed digs it when he's feeling bad, puts it into his coffee then. Blasphemy, if you ask me.”

“Freed likes cherry syrup?”, she say incredulously, feeling better as the warm and sweet liquid spreads through her body.

“He's a sweet tooth, believe it or not. 'Course he has a lot of personal rules against the consumption of too much sugar; only one piece of chocolate a day and cherry syrup only in cases of emergency, blah blah blah...” He sighs over-dramatically before his dolls cry, “Blah! Blah! Blah!”, and it makes her laugh again. The heaviness around her heart dissolves a little, but he doesn't laugh with her this time.

“That Edolas-stuff you've been thinking about; it's something to do with me, hasn't it?”, he asks and her laughing stops. She stares at him a little, looks for teasing, but there's nothing; no smirk on his lips, no hidden amusement in his voice. “Or the other guy with my name, anyway.”

She has the feeling she can't really lie to him, he's going to know if she tries. She knows his eyes are on her even if she can't see them behind his visor. “Yeah”, she admits quietly.

“I hope the reason you're crying isn't that he's an asshole”, he says, but there's more to his voice this time, beyond the casual tone.

“No”, she says. She has to take a deep breath before she can talk about him, but this Bickslow doesn't seem the type to just let it go. “He was a very quiet, kind man, actually: in love with all living things, cultivated flowers and had a secret love for poetry.”

Bickslow snorts into his mug of chocolate, loud and inappropriate before he gives a shrill laugh. “That doesn't sound like me **at all**. More like Ever's and Freed's love-child.”

“I think he was very much like you”, she finds herself saying. The thought has just come to her mind, just now, but it seems right. Bickslow focusses his attention on her, and the noise of his dolls who still dry his clothes stops. She blushes a little, but keeps talking. “He was very aware of the meaning of life, but he didn't fear death. And he always wanted the people around him to be happy.”

“'Was'?”, he inquires, she has feared he would.

“Yeah.”

“Ah.” He takes another sip of hot chocolate, but otherwise, looks completely unfazed by the news that in Edolas, the other Bickslow was dead. “She was very much like you, too”, he says then. “The other Lisanna.”

His words take her by surprise once more, and inwardly, she asks herself if she hasn't given him enough credit before. “How do you...?”

“Your colours match”, he answers plainly, before he doubles back and realises that he needs to explain. “I mean... I've seen parts of her soul, two years ago in that forest. It was like yours, a little bluer maybe, but nearly the same colour.”

“You've seen her soul?” She's blatantly staring at him now. A little pink creeps down his cheeks and becomes visible below his visor.

“I was just passing through that forest with Freed and Ever and... well, I checked if your soul maybe needed a little push into the afterlife.”

“You brought her soul into the afterlife?!”

“ No!”, he says loudly and appears a little nervous. “I just **looked** for it. It happens that souls don't find their way, you know? Hers was already gone, though.”

“But you saw it!”

He sighs. “I saw a remnant of it, like a memory. It was already fading. … It's complicated.”

She stares at him for a moment, unable to really process the excitement that has welled up in her stomach. His cheeks are definitely pink now, the red eyes behind his visor are locked with hers, she can feel it. It's that cold and hot feeling again, that feeling like he's reading her, but it feels somehow pleasant this time.

He's really a lot like the other Bickslow in Edolas. The thought that he tried to make sure her soul found the afterlife is morbid, but then again, she was dead in this world for two years; and if she looks at it from that perspective, it's actually a little sweet. Once the shock of the excitement has passed, she takes a deep breath and finds herself smiling at him. “What colour was it?”, she asks.

He doesn't react immediately, seems to have to snap himself out of his thoughts, too.

“A little bluer than yours, I think I said that”, he then answers. She registers that the teasing is slowly returning to his voice, but she's too curious and ignores it.

“And mine is...?”

He sighs, once more over-dramatically. “It looks like... milk with cherry syrup, I guess? Kind of pinkish white?”

“White! White!”

“That's not very precise”, she says, just to annoy him. Actually, milk with cherry syrup is alright with her, especially since the chocolate Bickslow has brought her just tastes better and better with every sip.

“Try to explain the concept of seeing to someone who is blind”, he grumbles and shrugs his shoulder. “Sorry, but that's about as precise as it gets.”

She isn't feeling insulted, instead sees an opener to tease him back. “Enlighten me, then. What about Mira-nee's soul?”

“Kind of like yours, too. A bit darker at the core, though.”

“And Elf-nii-chan's?”

“Pinkish red, very manly.”

“And Natsu's?”

“Red and orange, I guess. Like a flame.”

“And Happy's?”

“Happy's not a human being.”

“So it's only human souls? What about... what about Erza then?”

He groans, finally. “You're awfully interested in my abilities, babe”, he says. “Or awfully interested in getting on my nerves.”

“Maybe I think you're interesting”, she says in between giggles she tries to swallow, unsuccessfully.

“Sure thing”, he replies, the corners of his mouth moving upward into an impish grin. “Which girl wouldn't be interested in a guy who can do this?”

He sticks his tongue out, his freakishly long tongue, and without any effort, touches the tip of his nose. It's equally hilarious and disgusting, but she laughs nonetheless.

“Bickslow!”, booms a voice from behind her.

The man in question flinches on his seat, and she turns her head to find Evergreen behind her, arms stemmed into her hips, looking angry.

“First: How often do Freed and I need to tell you not to do those things with your tongue in public? It's disgusting. Second: What are you doing here? We've been waiting for you in Freed's apartment - ...”

“Shit”, mutters Bickslow. “The next job.”

“Shit! Shit!”, whisper his dolls.

“Yeah, the job”, Evergreen says. Lisanna thinks she sounds like a stern teacher. “And third: What the hell are your dolls doing there?!”

“Drying my clothes”, Bickslow replies as if it's the most normal thing in the world. Evergreen returns a disgusted noise.

“Whatever”, she says then. “Now get off your ass. The train's going in an hour, and you probably haven't packed.”

“Sorry Lisanna”, he says as he gets up from the table. “Work is calling.”

He proceeds to relieve his dolls from the clothes they've been drying and puts them back on, ignoring that it's in the middle of the guild hall.

“I hope he hasn't been pestering you”, Evergreen says to Lisanna, her voice friendlier, but still a bit steely. She sounds as if she's talking about a misbehaving child. Lisanna thinks it's probably fitting.

“Not at all”, she replies, and from the corner of her eyes, she sees Bickslow smirk and stick his tongue out at Evergreen, who rolls her eyes in return.

“Well... I'm ready”, he says some seconds later as he fastens one of the belts that hold his shoulder pads. “Let's go, Ever. Babies!”

His dolls quickly float to him, and begin to circle around his head. Lisanna starts to think they're quite cute now she's gotten used to them a little more.

“Then... goodbye, Lisanna”, Evergreen says with a nod, and marches out of the guild hall, Bickslow a step behind her. He looks over his shoulder once more, and waves.

“See you around!”

She waves back, and as soon as he's out of sight, she has a look into his mug. He nearly hasn't touched the second mug, and it's still half full of wonderful warm chocolate with hopefully a lot of cherry syrup.

“Finders keepers”, she mutters to herself, reaches out for the mug and takes a deep gulp.

It tastes strong and bitter, not at all like the sweet syrup she has expected. She can hardly keep herself from spitting it out over the table and starts coughing violently.

From somewhere near the entrance, she hears a wild, booming laughter. “You can put rum in it, too, babe!”

“Rum! Rum!”

She swears to herself to pay Bickslow back for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I don't intend to expand on it in another story, here are some of my headcanons regarding Edolas Bickslow:
> 
> First, Edolas Bickslow and Lisanna. I left it ambiguous if they were romantic or not, but I don't want to over-dramatise things. I personally believe they weren't; but with time, they **might** have become romantic. He was, however, the first person beside Mirajane and Elfman who made her feel at home in Edolas, I guess also because she had no real memories of Earthland Bickslow that confused things.
> 
> Second, Edolas Bickslow and Earthland Bickslow. Lisanna comes to think they are not that different once you get past all the superficial stuff, and I think so, too; but still Lisanna didn't get it totally right here. I think Edolas Bickslow was very focussed on life, but didn't fear death; whereas Earthland Bickslow is very focussed on death and dead people due to the nature of his magic, but regards it as a part of life and doesn't fear it, either. He needed to learn to respect life just as much, but at that point, he already has. Lisanna is right though that both don't like their friends to be unhappy.


End file.
